An Iraqi hijacker who helped take over a plane and held almost 200 terrified
passengers at knifepoint is likely to stay in Britain after a court victory.

Mustafa Hussain is expected to be granted indefinite leave to remain – because some of his fellow hijackers have already been allowed to live here, the High Court ruled.

Hussain was among six men who took over a Sudan Airways Airbus and forced it to land at Stansted Airport in August 1996, where they claimed asylum from Saddam Hussein’s regime.

During the hijacking Hussain held a butcher’s knife while the others were also armed with knives and sauce bottles disguised as grenades.

All six were arrested and convicted of their involvement in the hijack, despite claiming they acted under duress, and were handed jail sentences ranging from five to nine years.

However, the Court of Appeal quashed their convictions in 1998 after concluding the judge in the original trial wrongly prevented the jury from considering their defence that they acted "under duress of circumstances".

Since then, two of the hijackers, including the ringleader, have been granted indefinite leave to remain (ILR).

And yesterday, Deputy High Court Judge James Dingemans QC said a decision by the Home Secretary Theresa May last year to refuse Hussain ILR was “flawed”.

He concluded that ministers had ignored "relevant matters" and that other people involved with the hijacking had been given indefinite leave.

He said Mrs May must now reconsider his case.

The plane, which had 197 people on board – was hijacked shortly after it left Sudan and, following a fuel stop in Cyprus, landed at Stansted.

In his judgment, Judge Dingemans QC said it “is obvious that the hijacking would have been terrifying experience for the innocent passengers on board”.

Hussain was a Shiite Muslim from Basra and claimed his family had suffered at the hands of the Saddam regime.

He said he had been accused of refusing to serve in the Iraqi army, detained without trial, tortured and sentenced to death.

The judge said Hussain had escaped from Iraq in 1995 and travelled to Sudan.

Hussain claimed he had been acting under "duress" when he carried out the hijacking because he had been facing execution in Iraq and feared being seized by Sudanese authorities and returned.

Hussain told the judge in a witness statement: " ... We had no choice but attempt to leave the country in the manner that he did by hijacking the Sudanese Airbus."

But in 1997, Hussain – and others – were tried and convicted for their respective roles in the hijacking.

Hussain was given a five-year prison sentence.

A year later, appeal judges had quashed convictions and no retrial was ordered.

In the High Court he was challenging a decision to refuse indefinite leave taken in October 2011.

Hussain complained that others involved in the hijacking had been granted indefinite leave to remain – and argued that he was treated inconsistently.

Home Office ministers had resisted Hussain's claim and denied "any unlawfulness" in their decision-making process.